Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter Trem ?

[rreiser]

Has anyone tried one ? Any stores have them in stock ? Thanks

[rreiser]

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[rreiser]

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[jmckeown88]

Ohhhhh I want to know too!

[Mercury25]

bump for any new info--still don't see it for sale anywhere.

[Kilroy]

I have one. It is a very versatile pedal. You can come up with hundreds of usable variations of the tremolo theme. I especially like the tap tempo, though it does not work quite like tap tempo does with a delay. When using delay, you can strike a chord or note on beat 1 (for example) and have it repeat on beats two, three, four, etc in exact sync with the beat. With the Shapeshifter, when you strike that first chord, the pedal could be anywhere in the tremolo "cycle" i.e., it might be in the silent or quiet part, therefore what you play actually comes out a millisecond (or so) later. It kind of feels like a stutter and can be disconcerting. It would be cool if it had the brains to sense when you actually played that first note and then started the termolo cycle right then.

But it is extremely versatile and can do classic Fender Trem to rhythmic staccato trem and everything in between.

The construction is solid, with a rugged metal case. It has a stiff true bypass switch and a slightly less stiff tap Tempo switch that has a more defined action so you can feel exactly when you are tapping.

The versatility of the thing makes me want one more feature: presets!

JK

[Matybigfro]

just pulled the trigger on one of these

[guildchild]

where are you seeing them for sale?

[shauggy]

You can get them on eBay, the smaller dealers around the US have em too.

Here's one:
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/guitar_pedals.htm


I'm curious if anyone has compared the tap tempo to the Line6 trem, I could never get the Line6 to tap the tempo I set; it was always a few bpm slower or faster. If you've got one, let us know how accurate it is!

[guildchild]

Originally Posted by Kilroy

I especially like the tap tempo, though it does not work quite like tap tempo does with a delay. When using delay, you can strike a chord or note on beat 1 (for example) and have it repeat on beats two, three, four, etc in exact sync with the beat. With the Shapeshifter, when you strike that first chord, the pedal could be anywhere in the tremolo "cycle" i.e., it might be in the silent or quiet part, therefore what you play actually comes out a millisecond (or so) later. It kind of feels like a stutter and can be disconcerting. It would be cool if it had the brains to sense when you actually played that first note and then started the termolo cycle right then.

JK

i finally picked one up yesterday. i'm not really a tremolo guy, nor am i super hip to other trem pedals, so i won't comment on tone. i will say it sounds good.

it is INCREDIBLY usable. i could instantly get 4 very distinct sounds that were pleasant and friendly for live situations. i'm REALLY blown away by this thing.

JK, i was quite concerned about your critique shown above and almost didn't buy the pedal because of what you mentioned. however, i discovered that the peek of the cycle restarts on the 2nd tap of the tempo button. i agree that if you tap something in, then the song starts, you may be out of the cycle, but tap it twice again (even though it's at the same tempo) and it will reset the cycle and be dead on. at least that is how my was responding and the manual indicates that it does this.

bad points: the leslie sim that is mentioned in the manual doesn't do that AT ALL... who cares? i've got the sch-z for that. the only other thing that i would like to see is a tap tempo pedal input jack. i run 2 delays driven by 1 tap tempo pedal. i'd like to drive the tremolo from that same pedal. i MIGHT mess around with removing the tap switch and put a jack there. anybody have thoughts on doing that?

all in all, i can't say enough about this thing. aside from my addiction to delay, this is the most expressive / useful pedal on my board (for now).

[Tweeker]

Hello guildchild and Kilroy,
Care to comment on the tap tempo switch itself?
I've heard that's it's NOT a silent switch and might be distracting in a quiet setting.
thanks

[guildchild]

Originally Posted by Tweeker

Hello guildchild and Kilroy,
Care to comment on the tap tempo switch itself?
I've heard that's it's NOT a silent switch and might be distracting in a quiet setting.
thanks

well, i didn't notice anything last night, but i'll check again. you are talking about a sound coming through the rig and not the physical switch itself...right? if you meant physical switch heard "acoustically" i certainly didn't notice it being louder than your average switch. the on / off switch was louder "acoustically" since it is a "hard" switch. the tap switch is doesn't have the "click" since it's just a throw shaft making contact and returning to its original position. am i hearing you correctly?

another critique that i should mention is that the unit doesn't respond to the tap tempo while in bypass mode. in fact, the manual says that the unit goes to sleep in order to save battery life. that might be a problem at some point, but considering that everything else i've used puts me straight into random-ville, i'm ok with it.

[Tweeker]

Originally Posted by guildchild

...if you meant physical switch heard "acoustically" i certainly didn't notice it being louder than your average switch...i should mention is that the unit doesn't respond to the tap tempo while in bypass mode...

I was actuallly referring to the acoustic sound of the momentary switch. I'd heard of one acoustic player that found it too noisy for performance. Even a noisy switch wouldn't be a problem with electric, but I was just wondering if it was distracting, noise or resistance wise. Glad to hear it isn't.
An inactive tap tempo in bypass mode could be a problem for me. I usually sync before hitting the on switch.
thanks for the info.